The Sligo Champion

Three more beef plants approved for chinese market – ICMSA say ‘must result in better prices for farmers’

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THE Chairperso­n of ICMSA’s Livestock Committee has welcomed today’s announceme­nt that an additional three beef plants have been approved by Chinese authoritie­s for their market, but Des Morrison stressed that unless the opening-up and developmen­t of the Chinese market resulted in a speedy and marked improvemen­t in beef price to the farmer producers, that the whole project become irrelevant and no more than a marketing exercise.

Mr Morrison said that farmers were happy to recognise the skill and dedication of Ireland’s negotiator­s and the energy being brought to the problem of sourc- ing and winning new markets to offset the threat to our traditiona­l British markets, but he noted that too often in the past new markets had been won and opened-up with any benefits accruing seeming to flow exclusivel­y to the exporting factories and no improvemen­t in the prices paid to the people who actually produced the beef.

The ICMSA Livestock Committee Chairperso­n said that the actual benefit of the work done in opening-up the Chinese market would and should only be judged in light of the positive results it brought to the farmers - not overall trade statistics or marketing reports.

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 ??  ?? Des Morrisson, Chair of ICMSA .
Des Morrisson, Chair of ICMSA .
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